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Saturday, December 03, 2011

Governor Snyder Launches Review of Detroit's Finances

It was announced yesterday afternoon that Governor Rick Snyder has launched a financial review of the City of Detroit. This, of course, is the first step in a process that may or may not lead to the appointment of an emergency manager to run the City. Mayor Dave Bing said in a statement yesterday that he will cooperate with this review even though he does not believe there is any need for action from Lansing.

In my opinion, the part of this that is the most surprising is how utterly unsurprising the entire matter really is. The City of Detroit has been moving in slow but certain direction towards this for years now, in spite of repeated union concessions that have been made as well as turn-around plans that have been never been fully implemented.

Mayor Bing, like his predecessors before him in recent years, began his time in office by promising a turn-around for the City of Detroit. Unfortunately, like his predecessors before him, those plans amounted to fairly little.

In the weeks and months to come, we will likely see if someone appointed by Lansing is capable of doing any better.